Zach King: The Storyteller in All of Us at TEDxPortland (Transcript)

The internet has poised itself; especially, websites like YouTube were just coming out, Vimeo. And you could post your work online, and start building a following.

And then on the other side you had digital technology taking off. Cameras were getting cheaper, they were getting better quality, and again, they were only costing a couple of thousand dollars.

And so I took a camera, and I started filming my own videos while I wasn’t in film school. I didn’t have film homework, so I did that and I posted online, and began building this following. And it started changing my life.

Because when I go to film school, and I eventually am talking to classmates, and I am talking to my teachers, like: “How do you get into the film industry? How do you get into Hollywood?” Because I still want to direct, and they would tell me this, “OK. Well, here’s how it works: you go into Hollywood, and you work for 10 years up the ladder, doing nothing you really like to do. You’re being assistant to somebody, and doing this dirty job here, and then you finally get to a place where you can pitch your movie. Because that’s what all directors want — this chance to be in front of executives and pitch their story.

So if you get that chance, and let’s say the Hollywood system buys, the studio pays for you to go off for a couple years and make that movie; well, then you come back, and you have a theatrical release, and two things could either happen. One, it does awful and you skip town and never direct something again, or it does well, and that’s the moment you get to start building your following.

But I’m stepping back as a student still in film school going well that doesn’t make sense to me because that system’s got to be broken. Like I’m already building my following online, and I had friends that were doing this online, building successful YouTube channels, and other networks online. And so that didn’t make sense to wait 12, 15 years before I could really start my career, and even — in between – it didn’t sound like I’d be doing something that I loved.

So it was this tool that started to change my life. It was other tools like the cameras that started to change my life. And how many of you have one of these? Oh, that’s a shocker. OK. So what I want you to do go ahead and get them out of your pockets, get them out of your purses, OK? I’m giving you permission because half of you are already on them. I see you tweeting over there, and taking a picture over here. But actually, it’s crazy. Most of you will check this twice during the course of my 15-minute talk.

Most of us check our phones 10 times an hour and that equals 150 times a day. And for me, probably, all of you in this room check it like 300 times a day. Actually, here’s what I want you to do: by answering this question, by raising your phone in the air. Did you check your phone after being awake for 15 minutes this morning? 80% of you. OK.

And here’s what I won’t make you answer. When you go to lunch after this and you go to the bathroom, 75% of you will take your phone with you. So, yeah, you’re raising your hand, your phone there.

But what I’m saying is we live in an age where technology is one of our tools. The Internet is one of my tools, and we only need just this. I was flying up to Portland from LA yesterday, I was thinking on the plane right here. OK, if you were a writer back in the day in the 14th century before the printing press was invented by Gutenberg, were you just writing your book, and you finish it, put on the shelf, and just sit back, and wonder, well, I hope someone makes a machine that can publish this someday? Because I don’t know how they’re expecting people to reach the world, and to get their books out there, but we don’t have that problem anymore, we have the technology.

Literally, if you’re a writer here, you can go on your phone, and you can publish a blog and post it, and people can read it everywhere. It’s like not one of our problems. So I’m saying you only need a few tools to connect the world. Over here I brought my two tools. I use the computer and my camera. So over here, I’ve got in my backpack, I call this my traveling office. Because when I leave LA, you saw where I work in LA with the garage. This is my computer I do my editing here. I do all the importing and the magic of posting online, and then you’ve got my camera, and this is only a couple of thousand dollars. I’m not going to nerd out about what’s so cool about this, you’ve got an interchangeable lens and all this DSLR technology.

But what is amazing is this is only a couple of thousand dollars, whereas the buy-in ticket to make a Hollywood movie just a couple years ago, you had to have a hundred thousand dollars just to go, maybe buy a camera or rent camera, and then you had to process on film. You guys, if you’re not in a film, this is maybe you don’t care. But this is incredible technology, and this is my tool on how I’m reaching the world.

So I made a video a while ago, called Jedi Kittens, And that was just the response it got when it went online. It was crazy. So I was really into Star Wars, and I thought it’d be fun to make a movie just like Lucas had made, and maybe just make a scene a bit. But the problem is you’re a college student. You’re living off like noodles, and you don’t have millions of dollars in your back pocket.

So I took some cardboard, hot glue, spray paint and cast some adorable kittens and this is what I came up with.

[Video clip]

So what I’m really here to tell you today is that when you take Star Wars and kittens you can make a successful video. Thank you very much. No, I’m kidding. Jedi Kittens was a great video for us, because it was one that really got our channel kick-started. We started growing a really big audience. I think to this day, it has like over 10 million views. But it was crazy because it really models of what the modern filmmaker can do. We made this in one night. I was in film school. So we had our classes during the day, and starting around 9 o’clock at night, me and my best friend, I said “Hey, do you want to make a movie with Jedi Kittens in the Star Wars?” He’s like “Of course.”

So we go off and we make this movie from 9:00 at night, we film until midnight. And we’ve got all the footage on our computer here, and we’re just sitting side-by-side editing, till eight in the morning. That’s how we did all our film shoots during school. We did it at night, and then posted it at eight in the morning. At the same time, while that was happening — this is, by the way, what you have to do to compose a score with a 40-50 piece orchestra the same time though, in Atlanta, Georgia, my composer, Andrew was writing the score to the movie as we were making it. So by 8 a.m. after I’d give him the rough cut around midnight, he’s doing an all-nighter down there and sending me the music, and we posted it. That’s the whole process is complete.

And I also have a sound guy that I work with out of Wheaton Illinois, and I was sending him the sound effect like: design of what I thought it should be like, and what he should do. And so all of us are collaborating over the Internet. We’re not even sitting next to each other. Making a movie that ends up getting couple of million dollars, and we didn’t have million dollars to make it. I think we had, I think, just cardboard and hoglet whatever that cost that was my cost for making this movie.

And so it’s because of technology that’s changing all of our industries that were having so much power in just the tools, and letting our ideas go out there and be effective. And what I love is it’s not just filmmaking, it’s music, it’s art, it’s journalism, so many different mediums.

So I took a road trip last summer, me and my two best friends, we hopped in a tiny little Prius — and boy, we found out it was a tiny Prius. Because we went around 10,000 miles, and we go to 50 different cities, in 40 days. And what we were finding was incredible. We were finding that kids were coming up to us, showing us their work, meeting with fans. And they were showing us their work, and we were blown away. Because these are 10, 11, 12-year-olds doing — you just saw they were making like Jedi Kittens on their own, and they’re 10 years old.

And my mind was blown because it was literally the power of these tools that these kids had access to now, which a couple years ago — these don’t exist. So these tools are allowing our kids to create far before what we were ever thinking we could do. And I feel like, I don’t know if I’m going to have a job someday because these kids are the new generation of filmmakers. And if you look at all the spaces that are changing, you’re going to have a new generation of writers, a new generation of songwriters, and composers, and artists and graphic designers, all because of the power of our technology.

What I love too is I have a friend in LA. You may have — how many of you have heard of this video? Yes, it’s a very popular video, and it took off about a month ago, and it was called First Kiss. And basically the concept was we took 20 different people who had never met, and they kissed for the first time. And what took off was 50 million views of that video in the first week. It’s got over almost 80 million now I believe, and it was just a $1300 budget. That is insane. Because you have the advertising world, and I know there’s Wieden+Kennedy people here, I’m probably going to stir the pot.

But you’ve got ad agencies spending millions of dollars and I know because I work with these ad agencies now, I work with brands directly, I know how much they spend. They’re spending ridiculous amounts of money creating something that doesn’t even get that much buzz sometimes where they just trash and throw away, and never even publish. But here’s a girl, Tatia, my friend made this video for $1,300, and she posted and gets 80 million views. That is insane. And I think that shows the power that’s going to be in individual creators now that you don’t have to be an agency to create, you don’t have to have millions of dollars to make your Hollywood movie. You have the power in the tools and the digital technology right in your pockets right now.

So if I were to encourage you something, here’s what I would say. You guys have so many great tools here, so create well. You have so many tools right here on your computer software, designing. Someone was talking earlier about how it’s just his finger and his mouse moving and creating these awesome logos, but you know what, these tools are going to fade away.

And I was wondering this, Beethoven and Mozart were in this era, what would have they composed? How would they have composed? Would they have used a MIDI technology and little synths? What would Beethoven’s score sound like now? Or what would a writer be doing now? Or would DaVinci be the next Steve Jobs of our era, if he had our technology at his fingertips? I don’t know what they would have done but I do know this: we’re all placed in our different time in history, and we all have a really cool power to create something.

And actually, I want to create something right now with you guys – want to be in a vine video? OK. I think it’d be really cool to get you in a vine video. My parents are here, so I have to explain a vine video. A vine video is where you create something in six seconds, and literally that’s all you have. It posts onto your channel where people can follow you. And so if you don’t mind like a million people are probably going to see you.

But I am going to come down, we’re going to get the house lights on, and I am going to create a video with you. And here’s how it works. I push with my thumb a little record button and I’m going to record the first half down here in the audience with you. The idea is I’m going to teleport on to this stage. Is that cool enough for you guys?So what I’m going to do, I don’t need you guys yet. You just sit still, and look pretty like you are. I’m going to say, “Hey, I’m here at TEDx Portland, I am going to teleport to the stage.” OK, it looks stupid. But wait, until I get up there.

You know, half the time I’m filming these, my roommates, the housemates think I am a freak. But OK. So here’s where I need you guys really. When I record the last half, I’m going to teleport onto the stage in the video, I want you guys to erupt. You need to stand up, you need to clap, you need to cheer. Because a lot of people are going to see this, OK?

Are you guys ready? Yeah. Put your phones down now so you can do this.

Here we go. Right when I land, you guys erupt.

Great. I love the energy. That was awesome. When I sit down I’ll post this. It’ll go live to 1.1 million people. So if you don’t mind, just you’re all in it. You look great. Thank you very much. We’ll show you where you can watch that video in a little probably play and show you when I post that.

But what I want to leave you with is this: we have so much technology again, in our pockets. We have the power for all of your different spaces that are changing, if you’re a writer, if you are a music composer. And what I want you guys to do is realize that these are just tools. In a couple of years, there’ll be a new one of these, probably in six months. And in a couple years, there’ll be a new camera, a new computer. Maybe someday we’ll be answering phones like: “Hello. What’s up?” Yeah, I don’t know what technology will look like, but this is just a tool. It’s what’s in here that matters: your ideas and your thoughts are what can inspire people.

So take the tools. Take your ideas. And create something that will inspire the world.

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